Now here is the rest of my travel in North America with some more stories and fun things –

It was a fun ride back to Los Angeles. If you haven’t read about it then please do have a look at my hitchhiking adventure which wasn’t planned but somehow happened during my trip in North America.

Now it was time to visit beautiful San Diego and I was all excited to see some of this nice place I had head about after all. I didn’t get to visit most of it as I was there for one night and half a day only after getting to LA so late the other day. But I did get a chance to shake a leg in the pub there and also visit the maritime museum there. It was lovely to see this place I had heard about so much. And then soon it was time to head to Miami for New Year.

It was a bit sad to say good bye to my friend in Los Angeles but few things you got to do after all you are on the road and you never know whom you are going to meet on your next stop. But I love travelling for that reason as you have instant connection to people on the way and you have those precious memories in your heart afterwards. Now my first sight of Miami was the foggy morning and the bus stand where I waited for 15-20 minutes for the bus to go to Collins Ave on North beach. Now I felt better that I booked my accommodation in a nice area. There were big hotels all around and it was 10 minutes walk to the beach from my hostel. I walked to Miami beach in order to get some food and choose to walk by the beach to do some sightseeing as well on the way. So many people were running and I felt a bit out of track after watching them pass by every now and then as I guess I still need to work on the exercise part when I go travelling other than walking of course.

Soon I was in Miami Beach and now I chose a beachside restaurant. If you are not strict then the people from restaurant can be a bit pushy to ask you to come-in and buy food there. I end up getting my breakfast at one of the joints after walking past few places. It was nice to finally have some food after the long flight. Now I was all set to see the place again but I end up going shopping in a shopping mall there and after clothes I did buy some food as well. Now I was loaded with so many shopping bags that I had to put them down to wait for the bus. The bus system is good in Miami so don’t worry if you like to commute the local way. I love riding the busses and trains as it gives me a feeling as if I am local. But remember not everyone speaks English there so if you are not equipped with Spanish then it might take a while to start chatting with the locals.

Now it was time to celebrate New Year the next day. First I went to the so called famous mall that everyone tells you to go called – Aventura Mall, Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FL, United States. It was a good and a bad thing. Bad that I spend the whole day walking and shopping there and good that I did buy some nice clothes. But yes if you live in Australia then you would certainly appreciate shopping in States as the clothes are more fashionable and affordable hence I could not let this opportunity go away from me. In the evening I went to attend a hostel party in Miami beach which went very good after I met many people and also a couple from France. I had one of the best night with these people celebrating the New Year’s eve dancing and more dancing as I didn’t drink….Cudos 😉 Yes I did it..I didn’t drink at all on this trip.

Next day I had some more time to relax and go to this awesome museum called Vizcaya Museum & Gardens (Address: 3251 S Miami Ave, Miami, Miami-Dade, Florida 33129, United States). To get there you would have to take a bus to Downtown Miami. And if you are at all interested in art and history and architecture then this is a place to be. I loved the whole day that I spend at this place and took a lot of pictures as well. After that I took a tour to go to Orlando the next day to visit Disney World. It was really big, so big that you have to take busses or train to get from one park to another. Soon after I returned from Orlando, it was time to head to the airport as I had an early flight so I chose to stay in the airport for couple of hours rather than sleeping in and missing my flight by any chance. This was very long flight as I was supposed to catch another plane once I got to Los Angeles from here and then to Sydney from there. It was going to be a long flight I thought but wasn’t quiet ready for the bumps on the way yet to come.

Funny enough I had an interesting night in the airport as I was totally wet from the rain in Orlando and my shoes, cap, jeans, jacket and few other clothes… everything was super wet so I had to now dry them all to reduce the weight of my luggage and still keep it as carry on. Now if you ever tried to dry anything in the drier in the washroom other than hands then you would know what I am talking about. It took me four hours to dry everything and it gave me a chance to talk to the lady cleaning the place as well. It must have been weird for her to see the door of the washroom closed for sooo long and hear the drier. I know I have this was not something people do but I had nothing else to do in the airport anyways although it did make me laugh thinking what all things I can do at desperate times….LOL. Anyways you always remember such things so I don’t regret now.

Another stop was at Atlanta where we were supposed to change planes. I soon had a heavy breakfast after de-boarding the plane which I regretted soon as it was way too heavy for my stomach. But soon I realized that it was a good idea to have some food as we were stuck in Atlanta for next 6 hours now due to the weather conditions. Storm was coming from New York and all the incoming flights were either delayed or cancelled. After 3 hours I started to get worried now as I had to catch another plane in Los Angeles and that too with different airline with no insurance in case I miss the flight. Zeez it started to get a bit scary as every hour passed. I started to loose my nerve now after almost no sleep last night and waiting in the airport for so long. I soon went to get another boarding pass (this was fourth in a row) and made a joke to some one standing near the machine while getting the boarding pass. I was almost into tears but then this guy made me feel better by talking to me about the whole situation and about my travel in USA. Some times I guess just the human touch can do wonders. And that’s what I felt after I talked to him after being so frustrated. Finally we boarded the flight. Once I got off the plane in Los Angeles, my friend there came to visit me and we went for dinner before my next flight back to Sydney.

My friend then dropped me back to the airport only for me to realize that after all this travelling (day and night), I had forgotten the actual date of my flight and was in the airport a day early. My god, jetlag and lots of planes with no sleep can do that to you I thought. But I was lucky as the lady at the desk pre-poned my flight and got me on a plane the same night due to the cancellation of lot of other incoming flights. And I was able to come to Sydney on Sunday rather than Monday morning just before work. It was really good as I did need to take some rest before I could go to work again. Pffff…so this was my journey to USA, first time in the main land other than Hawaii last year. And I can say it was hilarious, scary, emotional, adventurous and fun. Nothing that I every thought of but for the best. God Bless USA 🙂